The “Fresh & Fit” podcast may be on its last legs, and critics are rejoicing about the controversial talk show‘s downfall.
Walter “Fresh” Weekes and Myron “Fit” Gaines have built their platform on the backs of racism and misogyny. The two podcasters, who are used to controversy, had separate platforms before joining forces.
Weekes did pranks online and Gaines focused on fitness content. After meeting through mutual friends, they decided to work together, releasing their first episode about “teaching guys how to get girls in Miami specifically.”
Their podcast channel has gained 1.49 million subscribers since launching in 2020, but YouTube has seemingly had enough. In a recent episode posted on Aug. 18, Gaines told his supporters that the channel had been kicked off the YouTube Partner Program. In other words, they have been demonetized, and will no longer be able to money off the content that they create on the site.
Both men claim they have no idea why their channel was demonetized, noting how they helped listeners and now they need their followers’ “support.”
“It’s the beginning of the end of this era,” Weekes stated. “We don’t even know why.”
Gaines looks visibly distraught when he reveals that the location where they film also “doesn’t want us to stay here.”
“I love doing this. I’d be lying to you guys if I didn’t say I love doing this. I left a job that I truly loved to do this,” he said while tearing up before adding, “I shouldn’t be admitting this, but saving children, right, was great. But saving you guys is better.”
Here is a history of some of the incidents that have led to their demonetization.
YouTube has explained why they were removed, saying in a statement to Insider, “We’ve suspended the FreshandFit channel from the YouTube Partner Program for repeated violations of our policies, including our Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines and Community Guidelines.”
Here is a history of some of the incidents that have led to their demonization.
Overt Racism
Myron Gaines, real name Amrou Fudl, is an American-born citizen, with some claiming that he has familial ties to East Africa, and Walter Weekes is a Barbadian-American, but one of their main claims to fame is their treatment of Black women.
When talking about BLK, the dating app for black singles, Weekes and Gaines said, “It’s funny, I never used that one. I mean, hey, bro, if you wanna date a bunch of Shanequas, go for it. Me and Fresh aren’t really down with the brown like that, being night riders. Sometimes if they’re redbone, but I mean, in general, me and Fresh don’t dabble in the dark, if you know what I mean.”
Gaines and Weekes got into hot water when they hosted new-age white nationalist Nick Fuentes, along with a full table of Black women, on a recent episode of “Fresh & Fit.” Fuentes is known for far-right ideologies, even going as far as to say that his followers should “storm every state capitol” when Donald Trump was not reelected as president of the United States in 2020.
In this particular episode, Weekes, Gaines, and the group of Black women pushed for Fuentes to say the N-word, and when he did, they all laughed and proceeded with the podcast as if nothing happened.
Brazen Misogyny
Gaines and Weekes have been called out for their misogynistic attitudes toward their female guests, with a high-profile incident occurring when rapper Asian Doll was one of the guests. She felt that Gaines was being needlessly disrespectful to one of the women on the podcast, and she called him “mean as f—k.”
The two got into an argument, and Gaines ended up walking off the set. Asian Doll followed suit, but then Gaines reappeared after she had already left the set and proceeded to bad-mouth the rapper, saying he “doesn’t even know who she is, and I don’t care.”
In another clip from a different episode, Gaines tells a large group of women to shut the f—k up and listen. When one of the guests called him rude, he said, “It doesn’t matter. You’re a guest.” When that guest took her headphones off, Gaines berated her saying, “get the f—k off then,” while another one of the male co-hosts started talking about her looks.
Penchant for Violence
The “Fresh and Fit” podcast has seen its share of altercations that started because of its problematic topics and hosts. An episode with the equally cancelable DJ Akademiks could have turned deadly if cooler heads had not prevailed. One of the female guests was about to leave, saying that she had to take her son to school, and Akademiks randomly says, “You had a kid out of wedlock?”
This led to a back-and-forth where the woman called out Akademiks. The two began to yell at each other, and they both had to be restrained. The social media personality then claims that as she was leaving the woman reached for a gun. Akademiks suggested that he and the man he was with on the podcast would have dealt with her if she pulled anything out.
While no fight occurred in that situation, the same can’t be said for what happened when Tommy Sotomayor made a guest appearance. Sotomayor is a conservative political commentator and a men’s rights activist known for his disrespectful takes on Black women.
During the episode, Sotomayor told the Black woman next to “Your weave too tight you need a different type of glue.” He then proceeds to call her ignorant, dumb, and a stupid B. This set the lady off and it led to a physical altercation between the two where they had to be separated by security and the hosts.
